Category ATTENDANCE

At the last school board meeting, a group of Rainier Beach High School students, attended by one teacher, came to ask the board for a simple request: ORCA cards to help them travel to and from school.

The district responded by having a listening meeting with students in mid-December. Any news of solutions will have to wait until after the break.

At the school board meeting, one student describes how on his long walk to school, bus drivers will sometimes take pity on him and give him a lift, and sometimes they won’t, and that makes the difference between being late or on time.

Another said that the lack of help for transportation costs pushed her and other students into stark decisions.

“Students are having to choose between having money for food and money for transportation...